Fragment
by vikung-fu
Summary: Set between Kingdom Hearts and CoM, Sora once more enounters the nameless Unknown Man and finds himself lost amidst the fragments of previous worlds. Originally posted as part of Dissidia Union Meeting #1.


"_**Fragment"**_

'_The door to the light_…'

The thick grass whipped against his pale legs, leaving red welts as he moved beneath the shadowy skies. His face was flushed with exertion, damp warmth upon his forehead, his shirt to clinging tightly to his back.

Comparatively, the handle of the key felt light in his hand, his eyes trained on the movement within that thick grass.

'_This time I'll fight_…'

The figure ahead stepped sideways, the long coat trailing in the dry earth of the warn path. He could feel the humidity of the summer's day sit weighing upon him despite the shadows that now filled the sky. There was no breeze amongst the willowy lengths of grass, no current of air to calm the beat of the heart in his chest.

His grip upon the handle of the key grew tighter.

'_Your highness… but why_?'

His arm shot from his side, a flash of silver and gold in the dim moonlight. His face was not that of a young man's, his brow was no longer unmarked by the exertions of their journey.

At his side, he felt clouds of darkness dissipate, the teeth of the key, the overwhelming light reflected from the silver neck and the pools of pale silver moonlight on the dry earth. He remembered summer festivals, the moonlight in this world like the water through which koi carp lazily swam in the eye of his memory.

Yellow eyes paled to nothingness, the ground swelling beneath his shoes.

"Donald!" he cried out, his feet no longer carrying him forward, "Goofy!"

'_Behind the darkness_…'

The ground beneath him gave way, his feet slipping as the soil slipped down several inches and spattered over a mosaic beneath the earth. His eyes widened, instinctively looking downwards as he stumbled, feet kicking at air and making footfalls in the opening earth.

There was a portrait, carved in glass or tile beneath him. A girl with bare arms and a white shirt, a fringe of red hair falling before her face as she bowed her head forwards in inclination, her fingers knotted together before her chest as if in prayer.

The earth continued to part and he reached out with a hand, digging fingers and nails into the dirt, his teeth grinding together as he looked from the portrait beneath him to the silent grass and the trailing coat of the tall figure, standing several feet away.

'_This is the world in its true form_…'

His brow creased in a frown, his knees grazed and marked by soil as pulled himself up with one hand, the key trailing behind him in the other. From the surface of the soil, shadows boiled, bubbling upwards from the heart of the world and taking form before him. They were featureless save for the wide, yellow eyes and the twitching limbs upon which they moved with inelegant rapidity.

The other said nothing, _did_ _nothing_; he was a part of the scenery, amongst the willowy grass he was but a function of the world.

'_We have come for you… my liege_…'

The blade swung out again before him, both of his hands now seizing it by the handle as, of its own violation, the trinity charm swung idly back and forth.

The other remained impassive, unmoving yet tense beneath the folds of the heavy coat.

He threw one foot forwards, hefting the key above him and, as his second foot hit the ground, he brought it down, shredding shadow and doubt as he raced ahead, clouds of dust beneath his heels and trampled grass in his wake.

'_You are the source of all heartless_…'

The ground trembled, he lifted up the blade once more and ivory towers stained with ash seemed to erupt out of the earth, obliterate the landscape before him. Before him, he caught sight of the world as it was, a gathering of industry and agriculture, monotony and loss. Beneath his feet, the soil broke away, lifting slightly as the rest of the ground, save for patches here and there translated into floating islands of ruination in the darkened skies.

The towers before him continued to grow, rising forever up into the shadowy heavens.

'_Maybe our journey meant nothing at all_…'

"Sora!" a rasping voice to his left called out.

"Sora, over here!" joined a second voice, the words heavy as if they were spoken from the back of the throat.

He turned and felt instant relief, catching sight of Donald and Goofy, both upon islands of soil not inches apart, waving frantic and reassuringly at him.

"Donald! Goofy!" he called in return.

"Sora, what happened?" the rasping duck called back across the void.

Sora shook his head, looking down at the moonlight upon the shaft of the blade.

"I don't know. There was this guy – the Unknown…"

'_Who is Nobody you ask? They are the non-existent ones_…'

Goofy and Donald exchanged worried glances.

"I remember he said something… something that made me mad…" his frown deepened, "but I can't remember what he said…"

'_His_ _voice_… _I don't hear it anymore_…'

He lifted his head up, the hallowed towers and distinct whispers of electricity filling the clouded skies above them.

"I know this place…" he whispered with disquiet.

'_Can we do it_? _Against that_…?'

"Hollow Bastion," Goofy confirmed with a nod of the head.

Sora shook his head again, the key in his hand dispelling into particles of shimmering golden light. In the distance the shuffling clouds of darkness remained, yet the restructuring of the soil beneath them had divided them, cutting them off from the solitary islands upon which the three friends stood.

Of the mysterious Unknown, there was no trace.

'_Sora… why_?'

"What happened to the world we were in?" Sora called out into the emptiness, "Why did you bring us back?"

His voice echoed amongst the emptiness as he strained his eyes to see in the darkness.

Without warning, he felt a hand upon his shoulder and a voice in his ear.

"You're not in Hollow Bastion, Sora," the voice advised him.

He cried out, staggering forwards and almost toppling from the island, his thoughts already calling the Keyblade to his hands once more.

Upon the atoll of soil in the shadowy night stood the Unknown, his face hidden by the darkness of the hood pulled over his head. Beneath the both of them, the light of that mosaic seemed to shine upwards, touching them with distant illumination like the brush of dying stars.

It seemed further from him now than when he had been in the other world, further than he had ever thought…

'_Is this the answer you've been looking_?'

"Who are you? Where is this place?"

The other remained in stoic silence for a moment, the soil falling from behind the heels of his shoes and tumbling down into the ravine.

"This is a satellite of Hollow Bastion, Sora," he whispered, his voice uncomfortably familiar, "a shard of the dead world buried in your heart."

'_What is this place_?'

"Fine, but that doesn't tell me how you are," Sora said quickly, choosing not to question the Unknown's statements.

There would be ample opportunity to test such theories later, for now all that mattered was getting some kind of perspective on the situation… even if it wasn't the _right_ one…

'_What took you so long, Kairi_?'

"For now, I am Unknown, later shall we be maybe friends or foes… yet for now… all that I am… is Unknown…"

'_It's not over yet_…'

"Do you know where Riku and the king are?" Sora persisted, "Can you take me beyond the door?"

The Unknown shook his head.

'_Sora_…'

"The door is closed…" he whispered.

"But there's a way to open it isn't there?" the boy retorted, "That's what all this is about isn't it? A shard of Hollow Bastion, a fragment of a world amongst the greenery of somewhere else – that's what this is, isn't it? It's a jagged edge torn off in the key of the lock, right? This is the bridge that leads between worlds!"

The Unknown said nothing, the soil continually slipping from his heels. With a final, decisive gesture, he stepped backwards and away, falling downwards into clouds of burgeoning shadow and the mosaic of the girl with the red hair and the sad smile.

Sora stumbled forwards, reaching out a hand as winds billowed up from the darkness, pushing him back and engulfing the small island.

In his ear, he caught the whisper of another voice, a gentle voice rising almost as if it came from beneath the mosaic, beneath the pained glass.

'_Sora_…'

'_We'll go together_…'

After which, came the embrace of shadow and the ache of hearts healing about the buried cause of their sorrow; after which, came oblivion.


End file.
